Monnik's Pit Fighter School
Khorne is not commonly worshipped by cultists. He doesn't promise wealth or indulgences, he doesn’t deliver followers from calamity or provide them with a path to political power, nor does he provide easy mastery of magic. All Khorne wants from his followers is for them to kill, and all they can expect from him are means to better facilitate the butchery they perform in his name. Cultists who indulge in orgies of bloodletting within the cities of the Old World are soon noticed and stopped. Unless they find an appropriate niche in which to hide. On the island of Riddra in Marienburg’s Suiddock district there are a number of seedy establishments offering criminal entertainments and opportunities. Addicts furtively make their way to the Golden Lotus Dreaming House. The Marienburg Gentlemen's club provides private snugs in which thieves meet with the fences of the Guild, Marienburg’s extensive organised crime network. As for those who have an appetite for violence there are the blood sports at Monnik's Pit Fighter School. People from all over the city come to Monnik's to watch the fights. During the days he holds a number of bouts that are normally fought with blunted weapons, and end when the first blow is landed. After nightfall, things take a more serious turn. Monnik is known to do deals with the Guild to supply fighters for his underground pit. Here his most trusted customers pay a premium price to watch combats to the death. Monnik himself is a cruel and vicious man, though he is not so antisocial that he would worship Khorne. The man has done well for himself by providing this form of entertainment, and lives a fine life on the riches he garners through running the school. He has a very nice townhouse in the Oudgeldwijk ward to prove it. It is amongst the men secretly housed in subterranean cells beneath the school that the worship of Khorne has taken hold. Many of the fighters here are wanted men, who have found their way to Monnik's through connections to the Guild. Some of them are here willingly, earning money and a safe house in return for partaking in the bouts. Some are liberated criminals or even prisoners of war, and this is the case of the raider known as Thijsson. He was a member of a band of sea raiders who harried the villages of the Wasteland coast. Soldiers from Marienburg fought them and took the survivors back to the city in chains. Before Thijsson met the executioner’s axe he was spirited away by agents of the Guild to Monnik’s school. That Thijsson was a powerful fighter was proven in his first bouts, and he drew much appreciation from his audience. A few of the other pit fighters even began to adopt his regimen and rituals in the hope it will make them equally fearsome. Thijsson knows no Reikspiel, and had part of his tongue cut away by his captors, but he can just about pronounce the word “Akhar” before each fight. Another practice he indulges in is to brandish the decapitated head of his victims and hold it up to the north. This is where Monnik has placed a grandstand near the edge of the pit, so audience members just take Thijsson's acts as some showboating. But this is not the case. Those pit fighters who have aped Thijsson's practices have experienced strange but beneficial results. Before bouts they have distressing visions of war and bloodshed that work them into a frenzy. They seem better able to concentrate on training and become heavy and strong through exercise. Their compassion ebbs, leaving them able to deliver a killing blow without qualm. Where once they may have begged not to be led into the pit they now seek all the opportunities they can to engage in bouts. The men have formed a loose brotherhood, with Thijsson as their head. They train together and discuss tactics over their meals. As of yet the fighters have restrained their killing urges, saving bloodshed for the pit, but as time passes the desire to kill increases. Some of the men have even hatched a plan to escape the confines of Monnik's by overpowering the guards and leading a pit fighter's revolt. They say the fighters could flee to the lawless Doodcanal ward and effect a hideout in the catacombs there from which they could indulge their killing lusts without fear of reprisal. For the time being they remain, happy enough with the regular opportunities for violence life at Monnik's affords. However it is only a matter of time before the need to engage in an orgy of bloodshed takes a hold of those who call for Khorne’s aid in battle. Source * : Warhammer Fantasy RPG 3rd ED -- Tome of Blood ** : pg. 22 ** : pg. 23 Category:Chaos Cults Category:Fighting Styles Category:Khorne Category:Marienburg Organisation Category:F Category:M Category:P Category:S